Chuck Sperry

Archives for April 2023

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Sperry Featured Artist at Surf Music Fest in Italy

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be the featured artist at the Surfer Joe Summer Festival 2023 for the 15th Edition of the largest gathering of surf music fans in the world. Surfer Joe is a 4-day immersion into the world of instrumental surf music with an intense program of concerts, seminars and various attractions, all happening mere steps away from the Mediterranean Sea along the beautiful coast of Tuscany.

For his upcoming feature at the Surfer Joe Festival, Chuck will be showing affordable and accessible Old School posters, and surprises. You will find posters popular with rockers: Joe Strummer, The Who, Jello Biafra, Mudhoney, Queens of the Stone Age, Melvins, Rancid, Anthrax, Danzig, Devo, Black Sabbath, Tease-o-rama, Tiki Art, and other classics from Sperry’s archive. 

In addition, Chuck will be presenting his 750 page, career spanning book, “Color x Color, The Sperry Poster Archive 1980-2020” an extensive collection of his world-famous rock posters. 

JUNE • 22-23-24-25 • 2023
TERRAZZA MASCAGNI  
LIVORNO, ITALY

Schedule and Information at Surfer Joe Summer Music Festival

American artist Chuck Sperry is famous for his ethereal and psychedelically saturated screen prints that draw crowds of dedicated fans around the world.

“Chuck has propelled the American rock poster genre to a new level of fine art status with his print work.” – Juxtapoz

One can find his art featured in many books, most notably Color x Color: The Sperry Archive 1980-2020; High Volume: The Art of Chuck Sperry; Helikon: The Muses of Chuck Sperry; Chthoneon: The Art of Chuck Sperry; Idyllion: The Art of Chuck Sperry; The Art of Modern Rock; Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated; and Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo.

Chuck Sperry has honed the craft of designing and hand screen printing for over 20 years to become recognized throughout the world as one of the foremost rock poster artists and printmakers. Elevating the craft to fine art, Sperry creates socio-political artwork beyond rock. He adheres to the ideal that beauty strengthens his message.

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Chuck Sperry Solo Show “Offerings” in Paris

L’Oeil Ouvert Gallery of Paris is pleased to present Chuck Sperry’s “Offerings” — a solo art exposition by San Francisco-based screen print master. 

For his upcoming solo exposition in Paris, Chuck will be showing brand new editions on oak panel, archive panels, his latest editions on paper, rare test prints and surprises.

American artist Chuck Sperry is known for his ethereal and psychedelically saturated screen prints that draw crowds of dedicated fans around the world. He draws inspiration from graffiti, pop art, Symbolism, Art Nouveau and ukiyo-e. He currently imagines a verdant garden of new work tended by his signature shimmering muses, calling this work a “utopian provocation.”

On view: June 3 – June 30.

Vernissage: Saturday, June 3, 18h – 22h

l’Oeil Ouvert Gallery Presents:
“Offerings” a Chuck Sperry solo exhibition
1 rue Lucien Sampaix, 75010 Paris

“I’ve long admired Sperry’s work, so the release of this poster in support of the ERA’s overdue ratification gave me an opportunity to discuss his art and activism.” — Steven Heller, Print Magazine

Steven Heller: This is not the only poster you’ve done for equal rights. Do you feel that you’ve made inroads? 

Chuck Sperry: I like to hope so. Each generation is getting a little bit better at it getting along. There’s a concomitant reactionary backlash. The progressives represent the future, and the reactionaries represent a return to the past. The country, the world, is clearly in a struggle to move into the future and toward equality and universal human rights. 

Additionally, my concert poster work intersects with a mainstream audience, and bringing progressive ideas into that space has an opportunity to speak to a lot of people. By degrees these messages accumulate.

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“Pythia” Blotter Art Release & Book Signing at Haight Street Art Center

Pythia, 2023
9 x 6.25
Edition of 200
Perforated blotter paper
Signed and Numbered

Join me for an “in-person” book signing and blotter release at the Haight Street Art Center this Sunday, April 23, 2023. 

I’ll be making a very limited release of my Pythia blotters in collaboration with Shakedown Gallery with the support of the Haight Street Art Center at this event. In addition, I’ll be signing my books: “Color x Color: The Sperry Poster Archive, 1980-2020”, my 750 page career spanning retrospective, and my muse books “Idyllion”, “Chthoneon” and “Helikon”.

Haight Street Art Center
215 Haight St (at Laguna)
San Francisco, CA 94102

Sunday April 23, 2023
12 noon to 1 pm: Haight Street Art Center Members Only.
1 pm to 4 pm: General Public

Become a member HERE

From the Haight Street Art Center concerning the show:

Kaleidoscope Eyes: Celebrating The 80th Anniversary of Bicycle Day Through Blotter Art

On April 19th, 1943, Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann intentionally ingested a small amount of LSD and then rode his bicycle home, experiencing history’s first intentional LSD trip. He later described the experience as “a remarkable and memorable day.”

In subsequent decades LSD moved from laboratories to the streets and was often circulated via perforated sheets of paper known as “blotter paper,” frequently adorned with colorful designs and unique symbols. The art served as both an ad hoc form of branding and created a playful connection between the distributor and the intended audience.

In the 1980s blotter art began to be collected and displayed as a form of underground folk art, particularly due to the zealous enthusiasm of collector and counterculture archivist Mark McCloud.

The Kaleidoscope Eyes exhibit brings together pieces of historical blotter art with pieces from modern screenprint masters and popular rock artists alongside pieces signed by internationally-renown psychedelic luminaries and even some pieces from the legendary Institute of Illegal Images amassed by McCloud.

We’re excited to be partnering with Shakedown Gallery in our retail space and will be offering limited edition signed and unsigned Blotter art through the run of this exhibit.

Also showing: 

• Olga Spiegel: Pioneer in Psychedelic Art 

• The Haight-Ashbury Experience and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Photography of Herb Greene

• Enough Is Enough: End Gun Violence

• Via Dolorosa, The 14 Stations of Tyre Nichols by John Mavroudis

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Sperry in Popland 3 Curated by Ciou at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam

Popland 3 – Curated by Ciou
at KochxBos Gallery, Amsterdam
Saturday 13 May – Saturday 10 June

Opening Saturday 13 May, 15:00 – 19:00

Welcome, Popsurrealism friends from all over the world! For the third time in a row artist Ciou (Toulouse, FR) has curated the créme de la créme of Pop Surrealism Art. She has done an amazing job with bringing together the best, internationally renowned artists and emerging talent for Popland 3.

The amazing line up is: Junko Mizuno, Japan – Victor Castillo , Chile – Moira Hahn , USA – Peca , Argentina – AHoy, Australia – Sonya Fu , Hong kong – Chuck Sperry, USA – Dave Cooper , USA – Wadachizu, Japan – Nouar, USA – Yusei Abe, Japan – Jacki Jo, USA – Nicoletta Ceccoli, San Marino – Malojo, France – Erlend Tait , Scotland – Miss Van , France and Ciou, France 

Contact the gallery for more info at kochxbos.com

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Chuck Sperry at Art Market San Francisco

I’m thrilled to announce I will be exhibiting with Harman Projects at Art Market San Francisco 2023 – April 20 to 23. Art Market San Francisco is the Bay Area’s longest running art fair. It returns to Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion in April 2023 with 85 top galleries from around the world. Join us!

Address:
Fort Mason Center – Festival Pavilion
2 Marina Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94123

Dates:
Select VIP Preview: Thursday April 20, 2023 | 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Opening: Thursday April 20, 2023 | 6:00pm – 9:00pm

General Admission:
Friday, April 21, 2023 |  11:00am – 7:00pm
Saturday, April 22, 2023 |  11:00am – 7:00pm
Sunday, April 23, 2023 |  11:00am – 6:00pm

Please, all inquiries should be made to Harman Projects concerning all details including entry and available art work. An advance collector’s preview will be available online before the exhibition opens, if you would like to receive a price list please contact us here: If there is a particular artist you are interested in please note that in your email.

https://www.harmanprojects.com/contact

Archives

Sperry Books: “Color x Color” • “Helikon” • “Chthoneon” • “Idyllion”

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Chuck Sperry